Delfina Riverti and Franco Riccheri

FOTÓGRAFO

Fernando Schapochnik

OBJETIVO

A set of small design decisions whose common objective is, on the one hand, to maximize spatial and circulatory continuity, and on the other, to completely blur the visual limit with the surroundings.
The location of the sanitary core detached from both the facades and the roof of the house to favor continuous circulation around it. Reviewing the historical relationship bathroom/rest of the house, assuming its use as daily and turning this into a learning tool for the growth our son.
The design of all the elements that make up the interior equipment as light and transparent as possible. A kitchen cabinet that is not perceived as such, built with leftover deck boards, where spice jars are camouflaged with the vegetation of the garden.
This sum of strategies means that living within 45 sq m. is never perceived as a limitation to the development of daily life, on the contrary, it invites us to share time together and grow as a family.

CONTEXTO

On a small lot on the coast of the Atlantic Ocean, we decided to build a house where we could raise a child and start a family. A house to spend the best moments of our lives.
Somehow anticipating the post-pandemic migratory movement from big cities to the coastal suburbs, we found in this small Uruguayan beach neighborhood the ideal context in which to experience first-hand some concepts regarding domestic architecture on which we have been working for a long time.
The need to shorten construction times in order to have a “roof” as soon as possible and the fact of having a limited budget that defined the area to be built in advance; could have been limitations when starting the design process.
However, they served as triggers to define project strategies to build a 45 m2 home which is far from being perceived as small as any equivalent “one room” apartment in one of the capital cities of the Río de La Plata.

ACTUACIÓN

With the exception of the foundations, the construction was made entirely of wood, combining the use of species of different hardness, texture and surface treatment.
The main skeleton of Finger Joint Eucalyptus was custom made entirely in workshop. This way the number of operations made on site was limited to only those necessary to make the joints between pieces, at the same time material waste was considerably reduced and construction times on site were shortened.
Claded almost entirely by glass panels, the structure of the house and all the pieces that compose it are completely exposed. The external language embodies the direct expression of the constructive modulation.
In summer, the strategic arrangement of opening windows on the four facades of the house allow interior cross ventilation thanks to ocean breezes. While in winter, the hermetic double glass envelope absorbs solar radiation, maintaining interior heat throughout the day, reducing energy costs to heat the environment.